Sounds like a pirate ship, doesn't it? I'll come back to that later.
"La Perla Blanca" is a small boutique hotel in Fuente de la Higuera, Ronda. It backs onto my garden, so we're neighbours.
Aerial view of La Perla Blanca[Trip Advisor]
It's a charming place, well, was - I've heard it's gone downhill lately, but we'll come back to that too.
"La Perla Blanca" 2011
When we moved to our new "home" in February 2011, we got to know the incumbent "landlords". The hotel is leased from the owner, allegedly the richest man in Ronda.
The landlords back then were a German couple and we got quite friendly with them. Then, all of a sudden they were gone!
The next incumbents were Dutch. We knew them too. They took over the Hotel Don Benito as well, but they didn't make a success of either and did a "runner" leaving a trail of debt!
A couple from South Africa had a go, but they didn't last long either!
Hotel Don Benito, now Hotel Ronda Valley [Central de Reservas]
"La Perla Blanca" 2015
Next came S, a Yorkshireman, and his wife. They came from the Caribbean where they had been working on yachts as crew.
They split up within a short time, but S stayed. He put his heart and soul into "La Perla Blanca", renovated the rooms, changed the public areas and worked hard on the extensive grounds.
After a while he took up with a Scottish Widow (No, not the insurance company!), who had been living in the area for years. We all knew her. She moved in and took charge of the cleaning, changeovers, etc.
Then, all of a sudden, S gave up the lease and moved in with this lady (she has asked to remain anonymous). He started work as a peon - a builder's labourer - and proved to be very good at it. He worked for me and regularly for K, an English builder friend of us all.
Next, the couple went back to the UK, to Huddersfield, S's home town. I don't know the details, but I understand that he stayed there and she came back to Andalucía.
"La Perla Blanca" - the pirate era
The "pirate" was J, Scottish-born, but from Leeds. His gorgeous much younger wife, also J, also came from Leeds. They had had two children together, who shall remain nameless. They all came out and took over the hotel.
I helped them get their kids in school in Ronda, and enrolled the parents on a language course. J never attended.
At the beginning of their tenure they did good things and the hotel was often full. We became friends, as well as neighbours.
J was very generous, and often bought our drinks. He even loaned me his Land Rover to go to the coast to pick up some furniture I'd bought down there.
Next I bought his VW Transporter from him, which he later incinerated in a drunken rage. It was a write-off!
"J" [Courtesy of Freepik]
The police know it was him, and so do several neighbours, but they refused to help the police investigators. Great neighbours, eh?
J eventually did a prolonged "midnight flit" and went back to the UK leaving a trail of debts behind him. Astonishingly, Spain and the UK do not have an extradition treaty, so he's got away with it!
Last I heard he and J have divorced and, according to HIS OWN POSTS ON FACEBOOK, he spends a lot of time in the Philippines in the company of teenage prostitutes.
What was the attraction, we all wonder? J was short, fat, ugly, bald and operated "under the radar".
Either he's "good in the sack" or these women are attracted by his money.
[Disclaimer: Having taken legal advice I have been assured that I am entitled to name J because, as far as the police in Ronda are concerned, he is guilty of arson. It is therefore legitimate to "name and shame" him. However, I shall not do so. J is regrettably "out of reach" because of the lack of an extradition treaty between Spain and the UK.
[The names of everybody mentioned in this article have been anonymised, in accordance with current journalistic practice.]
"La Perla Blanca" - post-thug
T, from South Africa, took over the lease and, once settled, brought his wife and children over. I met T a few times, but he preferred to keep himself to himself. I only met his wife and oldest daughter once.
Then, they too suddenly went ..... to be replaced by .....
E, a Dutchman with an estate agency on the Costa del Sol. I never met E, but met his lovely Colombian wife.
Then, they too disappeared .....
They have been replaced by a Moroccan couple, who I've not clapped eyes on yet. Rumour has it that they've let "The White Pearl" go. That would be a great shame.
Should I go round and introduce myself?
(Answers on a postcard to .....)
© Pablo de Ronda
Pictures:
Central de Reservas, Freepik, Trip Advisor,
Links:
LA PERLA BLANCA - RONDA - Official Site. Book Direct and breakfast is FREE
Importing a UK vehicle to Spain and re-registering it onto Spanish number plates
Tags:
Caribbean, Central de Reservas, Freepik, Huddersfield, La Perla Blanca, Hotel Ronda Valley, Land Rover, Leeds, Pablo de Ronda, Paul Whitelock, Philippines, Ronda, South Africa, teenage prostitute, Trip Advisor, VW Transporter